Apple to launch new low-cost iPhone in 2020 to halt sales decline

Cheaper handset is aimed at retaking market share from Huawei, Samsung

Apple is bringing back a relatively inexpensive iPhone to replace the SE, shown above, so it can better compete in emerging markets. (Source photos by Wataru Ito/Getty Images)

LAULY LI, CHENG TING-FANG, HIDEAKI RYUGEN and KIM JAEWON, Nikkei staff writers

September 4, 2019 17:55 JST

TAIPEI/TOKYO/SEOUL -- With its share of the smartphone market slipping, Apple plans to launch a lower-cost iPhone next spring to win customers in emerging markets and retake ground in China lost to Huawei Technologies and other rivals, sources said.

The new model would be Apple's first low-cost smartphone since the launch of the iPhone SE in 2016, which started at $399. Though the name and price of the new model hasn't been decided, it is viewed as the latest generation of the iPhone SE.